Three universities support U.P. writing forum

Writing Across the Peninsula is the name of a new U.P. conference that just finished its first year hosted by three universities -- Lake Superior State University, Michigan Technological University, and Northern Michigan University.

U.P. college students, along with both high school and college English teachers and professors, met over a weekend to discuss modern writing theory and writing education.

It was the first such conference, with 150 participants, and this year was hosted at MTU, but the schools will take turns to host the forum.

"Writing Across the Peninsula provides the area with a much needed platform for both advanced and beginning scholars in multiple areas of composition and communication to engage with innovative ideas in those fields," says Mary Been, an LSSU English professor and one of the conference's organizers.

Each university participated beyond the host role, presenting panels of speakers and sending instructors and students to discuss and present topics on writing.

The keynote speaker was Catherine G. Latterell, professor at Penn State-Altoona, and author of ReMix: Reading and Composing Culture.

Been says the event was helped along by sponsor backing from Bedford/St. Martin's Publishing, which paid for organizing, lunch for attendees, and the keynote speaker.

"Bedford's support was critical," says Been. "Without their help, we would not have been able to get this off the ground. It's hard to find sponsors for small conferences like this in somewhat isolated areas."

Next year, NMU will host the conference, followed by LSSU in 2012.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Mary Been, Lake Superior State University